Small constituency for Fairhaven bridge under repair

A noteworthy thing is happening on Interstate 195 in Fairhaven: MassHighway is spending $5 million to replace an overpass that provides access to exactly two properties.

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Posted Oct. 24, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 24, 2012 at 1:38 PM

Posted Oct. 24, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 24, 2012 at 1:38 PM

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A noteworthy thing is happening on Interstate 195 in Fairhaven: MassHighway is spending $5 million to replace an overpass that provides access to exactly two properties.

You can see for yourself if you take a drive to the end of River Avenue, off Howland Road. The street takes you beneath the very scary, propped-up bridge on the interstate, and there on the right is the Moby Dick Marina. On the left is the back entrance to the River-Side Crematory.

This raises a question: Is there a cost-benefit analysis done on these projects? Or do we make the assumption that since it was designed this way, it will stay this way when the overpass needs to be replaced?

Suppose we try to save money, eliminate the overpass, backfill it over River Avenue and leave I-195 as a regular roadway. The crematory has its main entrance on Main Street, so no problem there.

That leaves the marina, for which there is no alternative driveway.

It's been suggested that some thought might have been given to taking the marina by eminent domain — the legal process that allows the taking of private property for public use and paying the owner for it.

John Zolotas, the personable manager and co-owner of the marina, told me that with the real estate assessed at $1.5 million, the value of the business is probably in the $3 million to $4 million range. That makes the math a closer call, doesn't it?

And I'm sure he was right when he said, "I don't think the state or town would be interested in taking it by eminent domain. We also pay quite a bit of money in real estate taxes."

So to preserve access, we're spending $5 million.

Jeff Osuch, Fairhaven's executive secretary, said the marina didn't exist in the 1960s when the interstate came through, so it wasn't there getting special favors.

And it seems the highway planners built the River Avenue bridge to preserve access to Kendrick Street, an alternative access road that unfortunately no longer exists, Osuch said.

Over the years the cemetery expanded and the marina opened on its own secluded spot. The bridge underpass was the only way in and out from Day One.

Sara Lavoie, press secretary for the state Department of Transportation, didn't seem to think the suggestion of removing rather than rebuilding this bridge might be a plausible idea. Instead, she told me about the innovative methods that will be used to do the replacement job quickly in the spring.

On four weekends, River Avenue will be closed and the state will sweep in and install bridge modules.

Highway traffic will be diverted to the median, where temporary lanes are being installed, backing up traffic, as you read this.

It's all very forward-thinking and light on the inconvenience, unlike the rebuilding of the I-195 bridges over Route 140, which we thought would never end.

Instead, the new method has already made it possible for the state to replace 14 bridges north of Boston in 10 weeks, Lavoie said. It's the wave of the future.

And there is clearly a need, since 25,000 vehicles pass over that nearly invisible (from the interstate) bridge each day. Take the time to look beneath it and you will see a horror show of decaying concrete, rust, leaks and bigoted graffiti.

The thing couldn't even last long enough to wait for a replacement, so emergency supports were added six months ago just to keep it standing until next spring.

And when the whole project is done and the almost invisible bridge is in place and forgotten again, we'll leave it to future generations stuck with repair bills to ask "What were they thinking?"

Steve Urbon's column appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in The Standard-Times and at SouthCoastToday.com. He can be reached at 508-979-4448 or surbon@s-t.com.